Cal football: Grading the Week

And so it all comes down to three hours – or four, by Cal’s standards – on Saturday afternoon.

Standing between Cal and a bowl bid is Brigham Young (in addition to, ahem, the Bears’ own defense).

I can’t help but think that failing to earn a bowl berth would lend a larger dose of negativity to the proceedings than I would have thought a few weeks ago – not because a postseason berth was expected before the first snap of the first game, but because of how the stretch run has unfolded.

Remember, the Bears were 4-2 back in early October. To then lose six of seven – to finish the season without a victory over a team with a winning record — would undermine the momentum to a certain extent.

Frame it this way:

Had Old Blues been told mid-summer that Cal would spend the final month of the season fighting for a bowl bid, they’d no doubt have been encouraged.

Had Old Blues been told on Oct. 5 — after the win in Pullman pushed Cal’s record to 4-2 – that the Bears would miss the postseason and get blown out again by Stanford, they might have trouble hiding the disappointment.

Given where the Bears were last season, there’s little difference between 3-9 and 4-8, or between 4-8 and 5-7, especially when all the wins are against second-rate teams.

But 6-6 would carry lasting significance; it would give Dykes more credibility on the recruiting trail; it would give the Bears much-needed additional practices; it would give players and constituents alike a reward after all the suffering.

If, like me, you didn’t give the Bears much chance to beat Stanford and corral that sixth victory, then this is really Cal’s big game.

Result: Lost to Stanford 38-17

Grade: D

Comment: For both Cal and Stanford, the Hotline has devoted considerable time and effort to writing about the significance of week-to-week matchups. What you witnessed Saturday was the opening and closing arguments for that approach.

Look at it this way: UCLA is better than Stanford this season, but Cal has a better chance to beat the Bruins than the Cardinal because of the matchups.

The Bears simply cannot handle Stanford’s brute force on the lines of scrimmage. They couldn’t in 2012, they couldn’t last year, and they still can’t.

Everything else is immaterial.

*** The Bears could not generate pressure on Stanford quarterback Kevin Hogan – he had so much time in the pocket, he could have taken a nap.

Then again, the Hotline figured Stanford would score 30+ on the Bears because it scored 30+ on teams with better defenses than Cal (Washington State, Army, Oregon State) … and because EVERYBODY scores 30+ on the Bears.

At the same time, I figured Cal would have trouble scoring against Stanford’s defense because everybody has trouble scoring against Stanford’s defense except Oregon, and Cal is not Oregon.

But the Bear Raid had even more trouble than I expected, particularly when it came to protecting Goff when Stanford only rushed three or four. Within two seconds of the snap of the ball, the line of scrimmage was in Cal’s backfield, such was the push the Cardinal generated without sending an armada.

Goff had no chance.

*** So the Bears are undeniably better than they were in 2012-13 and yet are still no more capable of handling Stanford than they were previously.